Tron Legacy - It's Your Call - Initiate Sequence (3 page)
Read Tron Legacy - It's Your Call - Initiate Sequence Online
Authors: Carla Jablonski
Tags: #Fiction - Young Adult
Y
ou're not in the mood to try to figure out some weird game. Just being in the arcade's secret lab gives you a bad feeling. You hit no.
The console begins to rumble under your hands. A high-pitched wail comes from the game speakers. It almost sounds as if the game isâ¦crying. You could swear it's moaning “why?”
You stumble away from the desk as it rattles and shakes. “I didn't mean to insult you!” you shout. “Don't take it personally!”
You stare as the shaking grows violent and the desk starts moving toward you, tipping from side to side on its legs.
Are you actually being chased by a computer? All because you didn't want to play a game?
Okay, you may be losing your mind, but you still have to get out of there. It's as though you set off an earthquake! The floor buckles and cracks beneath your feet. A filing cabinet topples over, smashing onto the desk. The screen shatters, sending out flames and sparks.
You cough as acid smoke fills the room. Your eyes tear, but you make it to the stairs. There are popping sounds behind you, like firecrackers going off. You glance over your shoulder.
Oh, no! The desk is having mini-explosions! Suddenly there's a crash and a BOOM!
The ceiling collapses in front of you.
You're trapped. For good.
THE END
W
ould these programs really play against Clu? If they survive, he's bound to retaliate. You can't trust them to be truly on your side.
You set your sights on Clu. You alone have to take him out.
You gun your engine and zip toward Clu, a wall of light trailing behind you. Still, the purple and green players are closing ranks. You accelerate and zigzag in front of them. They crash into your light wall and go sprawling onto the Grid.
You hear Aqua shouting behind you, but you can't let him distract you. Your entire focus is on Clu. You're gaining on him.
Your eyes widen. Instead of trying to get away, Clu spins his bike around and heads straight toward you. What is this, a game of chicken?
You grip your handlebars hard. If you can make a sharp turn at just the right moment, he'll run into your light wall. It will be game over forâ
CRASH!
You slam into one of Clu's Sentries. You were so intent on Clu that you stopped paying attention to the other players on the game grid!
You fly over the front wheel of your bike and slam onto the ground. Your bike lands on top of you. The bike crackles with flashing energy as it shorts out. Your whole body trembles as energy from the Grid shoots up through you into the bike. It feels as if you've been struck by lightningâover and over again!
The last sight you ever see is Clu looming over you with a huge grin on his face.
THE END
S
uddenly you find yourself floating toward the ceiling! Somehow gravity has been reversed!
Your opponent is apparently not bothered by the lack of gravity. He races around while you're still trying to figure out how to move upside down. In a swift, surprise move, he knocks you to the groundâer, ceiling.
“Agghhh!” you scream as his disc slices into your arm, pinning you to the ground.
The buzzer sounds again and once more gravity changes, slamming you face-first back onto the court surface. Your visor cracks and your head spins. But at least your opponent's disc fell out, releasing you and ending the awful pain.
You stand, feeling wobbly, and look around for your opponent.
Wham! He leaps onto your back and smashes you to the ground again.
But then a strange thing happens. The guy jumps off and backs away from you. The crowd starts to boo and shout. You whirl around and see your opponent pointing at something on the court floor.
A drop of your blood.
A voice crackles down from the ship above. “Identify yourself, program!”
Should you tell them you aren't actually a program? Or will that only lead to a worse fate?
If you keep it to yourself,
GO TO PAGE 114Or do you tell them who you are? do that
ON PAGE 72
.
Y
ou fling yourself out of his path, somersaulting under the disc that Clu hurls at you.
He turns to gloat, then realizes you're still alive. He's so surprised, he smashes into an embankment. His own disc flies back toward him like a boomerang. As you watch, it slices into him and he derezzes.
A hush falls over the crowd. You've never heard such silence. Thousands of eyes are fixed on you.
You killed their leader. What are they going to do now?
Then a huge cheer rises up, so loud it nearly knocks you off your feet. Clu may have been the ruler, but he had more enemies than followers.
You're their hero. Practically a god to them. Thousands of grateful programs rush out of the stands.
Uh-oh.
It quickly becomes a riot as everyone wants to thank you, touch you, carry you on their shoulders, pat you on the back, shake your hand, and express their gratitude.
“Stop!” you cry, struggling to stay upright. “Waitâno!”
In all the shouting and cheering, pushing and shoving, no one notices when you fall to the ground. Which means no one helps you up. Or avoids stepping on you. Crushing you. Trampling youâ¦to death.
THE END
Y
ou have to check out the arcade. If nothing else, you want to find out how a message got sent from the place. The whole ride over you keep reminding yourself that your father isn't going to be there; that the page is not really a clue. It's just some random blip.
You arrive at Flynn's arcade. The whole area is rundown, and the abandoned arcade blends right in, with its boarded windows, peeling posters, and darkened neon sign.
The keys stick a little, but you manage to get inside. You haven't been here for years. Clearly, neither has anyone else. You carefully step inside the dark and dusty room.
Everything looks so much smallerâ¦. The last time you were here you barely cleared the levers of the old-school pinball machines. Of course, you were seven years old at the time.
There's something spooky about the silence and the silhouettes of ghostly machines. Once your eyes have adjusted to the dark, you hurry to the circuit breakers. You flip a switch and the machines gurgle to life. Some old tune blasts from the jukebox in a corner, making you jump.
L
et's check out the games,” you tell Alex. “But we're just going to watch. Not play. I bet you're good at watching.”
“I'm excellent at watching,” Alex agrees, his eyes brightening.
You and Alex head into the huge stadium. You walk around until you find an entrance. Crowds stomp and cheer above your head, so you head up a nearby ramp.
Alex rushes ahead of you, eager to see what game is being played. He comes to a sudden stop.
“What's wrong?” you ask, jogging to catch up to him.
“I think we're in the wrong place,” Alex says.
You gaze around. Thousands of spectators stare back at you. You stand on a huge transparent platform that suddenly swings and latches onto another one nearby. A motorcycle zooms onto the field. Then another motorcycle zooms into place behind you.
“I think you're right,” you tell Alex. “We're in the middle of the game!”
Now both bikes gun their enginesâand head straight toward you and Alex!
Y
ou think your odds are a lot better if you get out of hereâfast! You throw yourself into the vehicle. The driver executes a 360-degree burnout and peels away.
“Who are you?” you ask.
“Hold on,” the masked driver replies.
You notice movement behind you. You whip your head around and see two grid panels flip over. They transfer two black cycles onto your level of the game grid. One of them catches up to your vehicle. Your driver swerves and knocks the black cycle into an obstacle. The cycle derezzes.
The driver flips a switch on the console and ejects a series of disc-shaped capsules. The capsules explode, knocking over the remaining black cycle and rider.
You think he's done for but watch in astonishment as he grabs a second baton off his thigh and forms a new Light Cycle beneath him. He's instantly back in pursuit!
Your driver mashes the throttle as you race toward the formidable boundary wall.
“Watch out!” you shout.
Did this driver save you from Clu just to crash you into a wall?